When Worlds Collide

By Bishop Kaye Kolde

In 1908, The New York Times reported the theory of an Irish scientist who posited that there were an infinite number of worlds, because “in every smallest particle of matter … there exists a universe like the terrestrial universe which modern science describes to us,” (The New York Times, Aug. 23, 1908).

From quantum mechanics to comic book multiverses, people have pondered the idea of worlds within worlds. In our Christian faith, we often talk about the spiritual world and the material world, or the church and the world. Alexander McCall Smith, wrote in his novel The Right Attitude to Rain, “There were worlds within worlds, and each will have within its confines values and meaning.” Occasionally we speak of people who are “off in their own world” because of their lack of attention to what we perceive as the real world around us.

This is where the real challenge for us as followers of Jesus lies — how do we share kingdom meaning, values and purpose when it can feel like we come from different worlds on this one planet Earth?

Shaped by Culture

Every one of us is formed by our culture in ways that are obvious. Why do we love football and baseball in the United States, when other cultures only care about soccer or cricket? Which of you love grits, and where are you from in the United States?

All at the same time, we are being formed by the culture of our family, our race or ethnicity, our geographic region within the United States, our movies, TV and music, and online worlds we inhabit. All these influences, and others that are less obvious, inform what we value and how we make meaning out of things. While our influences have expanded greatly and more globally in the 21st century than ever before, we still unconsciously place ourselves at the center of our understanding of the world, God, and His purposes. We might still think the world revolves around us.

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“We need each other for a larger perspective on the Truth.”

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American Christianity has placed a high emphasis on developing a biblical worldview in the last 100 years, and despite that, here in the U.S., we understand what the Bible teaches in ways that are heavily shaped by American culture and identity. We even do this with our experience and culture in our own local church and our conferences and what a church or conference can or should be. It is human nature.

With every opportunity I have had to be with the church in various international contexts, it becomes more evident that we all have unique histories and cultures that shape us and our understanding of God and how to live out His Word. We need each other for a larger perspective on the Truth. There is a constant tension around what it means to “seek first His kingdom and His righteousness” together because we are all working against the ingrained and often unknown cultural biases we hold.

When I read the Old Testament Scriptures, I do so with the knowledge that the Israelites had the same challenges as we do in terms of their unique culture and history, and the worldview it created. The Lord made promises to Abraham that would result in blessing for all the people of the earth (Genesis 12:3) through one particular people. True to His word, the Lord did indeed raise up a people through Father Abraham who would be the stewards of the promise. Even as God set the nation of Israel apart to glorify Him and show everyone what the One True God is like (Exodus 19:5), there were promises given to all the nations.

It is important that we read the word “nations” as people groups, rather than according to our 21st century understanding of border lines drawn on a map and governed by human systems. Many modern nation-states like ours have diverse people groups, or “nations,” within their nation. Worlds have been colliding in the U.S. in painful and beautiful ways since immigrants began coming to its shores with hope for a new life.

In the book of Isaiah, there are harsh words of judgment for sin and idolatry and beautiful words of promise and restoration for Israel. What would have been remarkable and difficult to understand for the Israelites was how often God declared that these promises were for all the nations, not just Israel.

“And foreigners who bind themselves to the Lord to minister to him, to love the name of the Lord, and to be his servants, all who keep the Sabbath without desecrating it and who hold fast to my covenant — these I will bring to my holy mountain and give them joy in my house of prayer. Their burnt offerings and sacrifices will be accepted on my altar; for my house will be called a house of prayer for all nations.” (Isaiah 56:6–7)

God’s house is to be a house of prayer for all nations, meaning this would include all people both near and far. As we consider this declaration for today, it means they may be people currently far from the kingdom culture the Spirit intends to form in us that transcends race, ethnicity, country, or generation. In other words, the promises are not for ourselves only or for people formed by the same culture and worldview that has formed us, but the promise is for all people. As Peter said on the day of Pentecost, it is “for you and your children and for all who are far off — for all whom the Lord our God will call” (Acts 2:39).

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“The call of the church is to embrace all people groups into one family where Jesus is at the head.”

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When God had first called Israel to be His people, He was displaying His character defined by grace and mercy — not rewarding them based on their unique, inherent worthiness. Centuries later, despite their history of failure and unfaithfulness, God still came to them and fulfilled the promises made to Abraham through a Messiah. Yet many Israelites missed the incarnated revelation of God before their eyes because they were trapped in their cultural and religious identity. God couldn’t possibly include the unclean, uncircumcised masses, could He? Yet God hadn’t changed. He had always invited and included outsiders, starting with the Exodus, continuing through the lineage of Jesus and culminating in ministry to the Gentiles by Jesus and His apostles. Worlds do indeed collide in the gospel.

Today we may look at certain groups of people, both in our “Jerusalems” and at the ends of the earth and expect them to conform to our ways and our understanding of the world. We deem them outsiders based on what we expect and how we have been formed in American culture and American Christianity.

One Family

Church, we must stop and consider how we steward these promises now entrusted to us for all people according to God’s purposes. The call of the church is to embrace all people groups into one family where Jesus is at the head. Holiness, demonstrated by self-giving love like Christ’s, requires us to lay down self-centered thoughts and actions and any sense that the world revolves around us.

How do we humble ourselves and learn from our Christian brothers and sisters who may worship and understand God differently than we do? How do we even acknowledge that our understanding of God might be limited by our perspective? How do we take the promises of God to all people, whether it is the transgender person struggling against the way they were created, the immigrant fleeing chaos, or the successful, highly educated person with no evident need for God? When our small worlds collide in the church and His kingdom, it gives glory to God.

My prayer for the church is that we would have eyes to see how kingdom culture transcends the cultures that have shaped us in so many good and bad ways and become stewards of the promise for all people — that all may know Him, willingly bow before Him, and receive the promises of life in the kingdom where Jesus reigns. There is One Lord who is over all, and it is His world we inhabit. Let us not be trapped in our own small world and unknowingly diminish the power of the gospel and the glory of God.

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